Irish patent no. S58907 for Golf Etee by inventor Thomas Murphy, which operates on a similar principle. Since this invention, rewinding devices have become more elaborate. They have dampeners which can regulate the recoiling process and enable a secure rewinding procedure. This golf tee rewinding device incorporates such line retraction units.
To-date, golf tees are still sold as loose items which can be easily lost. The primary function of this invention is to prevent golfers from losing their golf tees. With this invention, the tee is connected to a basic anchor rewinding device and it cannot fly away. The same tee can be used repeatedly or can be replaced by others of varying sizes to suit the golfer.
At present loose tees are cheap because they are made of wood or plastic. Wood is biodegradable but plastic takes a long time to degrade. Both materials can break easily so a tee's life expectancy tends to be very short. Loose tees can also get lost easily.
The tees for this device can be made of durable materials as for example, gold, silver, platinum or other metals which could be engraved and/or decorated. Such hard materials will be buffered from the club face at impact by suitable protective strips. The tee can also be made of cheaper materials as for example ebony, bone, plastic, wood etc. The tee can now become a more personalised item and an element to cherish. The tee can easily be replaced on the recoil line when desired or when necessary with for example a screw on cap. The tee is kept in retracted position by a tightly wound coil in a housing. During usage of the tee, the cable is unwound to the appropriate setting/cable length. At the end of use the tee cable is recoiled into the holder via a dampened recoiling process.